The present invention relates generally to medical devices and in particular to a an improved display interface and method of operation for a medical device system that more efficiently facilitates interaction with a user.
Implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICDs) are well established therapeutic devices for treating patients who have experienced one or more documented episodes of hemodynamically significant ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation. Since their clinical inception more than two decades ago, ICDs have evolved from basic to sophisticated electronic devices that provide physicians with a variety of clinically useful functions with which to treat patients.
Presently, even the most basic of ICDs typically has more than one tachycardia detection criterion, tiered therapy which combines bradycardia support pacing with various antitachycardia pacing modes, low-energy cardioversion, defibrillation, and data logging capabilities. The data logging capabilities within ICDs have become increasingly important, since the amount of data required for the ICDs operation increases proportionally with the increase in ICD functions. Efficiently processing this large amount of data has become possible with the incorporation of microprocessors and memory within the ICD.
Even with the advances in ICD data logging and processing capabilities, arrhythmia event recording capabilities have been limited, making it difficult to verify the adequacy and efficacy of arrhythmia detection and therapy settings. Furthermore, ICDs have been designed to record electrocardiogram and diagnostic channel data which can indicate to the physician the ICDs behavior during multiple tachyarrhythmic episodes. These ICDs also include arrhythmic event counters which log the number of episodes detected and the success or failure of each programmed therapy. Moreover, monitoring capability in some ICDs allow for recording of electrocardiogram waveforms, which can assist the physician in assessing the efficacy of the implanted ICD.
Once an ICD has been implanted, the physician interacts with the ICD through a clinical programmer. The clinical programmer is used to establish a telemetric link with the implanted ICD. The telemetric link allows for instructions to be sent to the electronic circuitry of the ICD and clinical data regarding the occurrence and treatment of a patient""s cardiac arrhythmias and the ICD""s operation to be sent from the electronic circuitry of the ICD to the clinical programmer. The typical programmer is a microprocessor-based unit that has a wand for creating the telemetric link between the implanted ICD and the programmer, and a graphics display screen that presents a patient""s recorded cardiac data and ICD system information to the physician.
As the amount of cardiac data recorded by ICDs increases with each new generation of ICD, manufacturers and clinicians alike are becoming more sensitive to the role that time-efficient programming and data interpretation plays in the physician""s clinical visit with the patient. As ICDs become increasingly complex, the interpretation of recorded arrhythmic episodes and the programming of the ICD can be challenging and time-consuming tasks for some users.
Therefore, a need exists for improved ICD and programmer technology that facilitates the identification of relevant information regarding the patient""s clinical status. There is a need in the art for a system that helps the user quickly and efficiently interact with the ICD and programmer including programming the IDC, viewing cardiac data and assessing the patient""s current status.
The present disclosure describes a medical device system having an improved interface and method of operation that more efficiently facilitates the interaction with a user. In one embodiment, the invention is directed toward a medical device system and method of storing cardiac data indicative of a plurality of arrhythmic episodes, displaying a plurality of user input mechanisms in a graphical, hierarchical arrangement on a display screen of a medical device programmer unit such that each input mechanism corresponds to subset of the episodes having a common data characteristic. When one of the input mechanisms is selected by a user, detailed information regarding the corresponding subset of the arrhythmic episodes is displayed. The common data characteristic used catagorize the episodes can be, for example, a zone of detection for or a type of arrhythmic episode.
In another embodiment, the invention is directed toward a medical device system and method that displays cardiac events in a histogram format on a display screen of a medical device programmer unit such that an axis of the histogram represents a range of rates. When a user selects a normal view the system scales the histogram as a function of all of the stored events. When the user selects a magnification view the system scales the histogram as a function of a subset of the events that are graphically depicted along a portion of the histogram rate axis. The portion of the histogram can be defined by an atrial tachyarrhythmia response (ATR) trigger rate or can correspond to one or more zones of detection.
In another embodiment, the invention is directed toward a medical device system and method that displays cardiac data on a display of a medical device programmer unit using a plurality of screens including a device activity screen that primarily presents information regarding a status of a patient. According to the invention, the medical device system defaults into displaying the device activity screen when the programmer is operated by a user and the patient is experiencing an arrhythmia.
In yet another embodiment, the invention is directed toward a medical device system and method that displays a summary screen having a plurality of sections. The summary screen associates and displays a shortcut link with each section such that a corresponding portion of the cardiac data is displayed in a detailed format when a user selects one of the shortcut links.